I decided that I would not be known as the person that "just dumps live rock in my tank" any more. I am using the methods that we learned about from Paul Whitbey during his Reef Fest lecture at NSA last year. It truly is as easy as he indicated. I purchased 1/2" PVC with a bunch of 90's, 45's and T's to start my Aquascaping. I am not gluing any of the joints and their is really no need. It is remarkable how much better it looks with just what I have done so far as compared to stacking rocks. I am using hole saw bits to make my holes and for the most part is takes a little effort to get through each piece. Of course it is dependent on how dense the rock is but it really is quite easy. I will post more pictures as I make progress and promise to clean the glass so I can get some clearer pictures.
i have started this also but havent really came up with a good structural design yet. i am using fiberglass dowl rods in mine and drilling with a 5/8 masonary bit for smaller holes and epoxying the joints. looks good so far, keep posting pics
Hi I am new here in Searcy. Am going to join the club. I have been doing this since the late seventies oft and on. We come from Wash. state. Go to oregonreef.com and click on the worm incident, and see what can live in pvc pipe and eat your corals. Steve made supports fot some of his aquascape and holes for current in some and see what was eating his corals. I would use ZIP TIES and ACRYLIC or fiberglass solid rods, 1/2" works great. If you use pvc MAKE SURE you leave NO OPENINGS.. JMHO.. Am looking forward to joining the group, I have a 240 reef and fish tank. Cheers John
http://oregonreef.com/sub_worm.htm I got curious... there is a direct link to what he is talking about... -me
well crap. I just did exactly the opposite. =) I built a small (7x24) stand for my liverock. I drilled holes all in it and stuck a maxijet on the end. The idea was to pump water through the liverock effeciently without having tons of flow. I also wanted to build an area for fish to swim through the rock. geez.. that thing was huge. My holes aren't that big. =) I don't think my tank would support a worm that large. Now, I'm just back to worrying about the resin I used.
that is a crazy worm picture. my wife would have a heart attack if she seen that thing in my tank lol. fishermann where do you live in searcy? i live behind food king off of beebe capps.
Screwloose I live real close to you. We live near the highschool. Give me a call I would like to get together. 278-5087. Cheers John
I spent several hours completing my aquascaping and I must say that it was a taxing to say the least drilling through all of those rocks. Some would go well and others would be a pain. All in the density of the coral that layed down the calcium that made the rock. I was amazed at the difference that spending a little time aquascaping makes to the overall look of the live rock. I would have thought that round pieces with a hole through them on a rod would not look much better than pearls on a string - put Paul Whitby was right "Aquascaping makes a world of difference". Blake pointed out that not only are the aesthetics better but the improved water flow through the tank is a practical advantage to aquascaping that should never be over looked. I read the article on the worm - now that is a worm. I will plug the ends of the PVC for good measure but I do fail to see the difference between a PVC hole and any other hole or crevice that that worms can live in. Of course there is no need in make it convenient for them to grow like that when a few endcaps can may prevent something like that from happening. Thanks for the article - it is still hard to believe that that worm grew to such a large size. In the end the project cost $24 in PVC and fittings and took about 6 hours over two days to complete. There were no drawn out plans or anything like that to prevent symmetry. The pictures do little to show that depth that aquascaping gives to the rock which is one of the major reasons for doing it but I did the best I could to show it. I did clean the class for the final pictures. There were two rock that I used cable ties on of which only one is showing and I permanent markered it so that it better blended in to the rock. PVC made a great support for columns and drilling the rock while cumbersome will ensure that nothing is going anywhere. There were only two joints out of probably 20 or so that I glued so everything can be easily dismantled. I was very please with how just the tightness of unglued PVC joints were very stable. That is about all that I did - Hope to have a meeting at the house soon to show it off.
looks good chris. i like the lay out. its weird how much emptier the tanks look when you scape them then they do with a big wall across the back.
Good work Chris. I have been planning to do the zip ties and acrylic rod connections for my nano. I will post pictures here if I do.
Very nice Chris. I can't wait to see it. This will be a very nice system when completed. You're due some good luck and looks like you are off to a great start on this system. Working on that "Reefkeeper of the year" award? Oh yeah, officers and BOD can't be selected!!!
Very very nice!!! It well look really great with corals growing on them, nice job. That was one scary worm, bigger then most snakes I've seen, I don't think a worm that size could exist in a rock hole and it won't have the appetite that one had. Steve lost hundreds of dollars in stuff because of that thing.
Lokks nice. Will you have a power head or direct water flow blowing on the back of the left side of the tank to keep detrius or food from building up back there?
